Thanks to the FFA!

A big Thank You to the FFA Students and Mr. Robbins for the wonderful breakfast they served this morning!  It was very delicious, and much appreciated.

Thanks again to the FFA!

Tuesday Teacher Tidbits: Stay Warm!

Nothing real new in the technology world this week, other than the fact that I am driving myself crazy trying to figure out why a few of the netbooks in the mobile lab won't connect to the internet!

Hopefully, I can figure this out soon.

In the meantime... I thought I would try to think of some ways to bring some warmth or heat to the Blog!  (It was -7 degrees this morning!)

How about a few videos, that embrace the thought of staying warm?

The Power Station "Some Like It Hot"

Buster Poindexter's "Hot, Hot, Hot"

Asia's "The Heat of the Moment"

Stay Warm Everybody!

Happy Valentines Day!

Hope everyone who is a reader of the blog, to have the happiest of Valentines today!

Because I don't have a bb game tonight... I can even take my own valentine out for a dinner date tonight!

Tuesday Teacher Tidbits: Ted-Ed

Greetings and Welcome to the Blog!

Hope you all enjoyed your snow day off yesterday!  I know I did, got to sleep in a bit and watch some television, and even got in a game of NCAA Football on the PS3.

A quick shout out and thank you to Mr. Leonard Gebhart and Mr. Steve Erickson for coming over yesterday morning, and using the snow blower on my driveway!  The Harming family really appreciates it, and you saved us a ton of back breaking shovel work!

Tonight is the Final Regular Season Home BB Game for the Elks and Lady Elks BB teams!  Action starts tonight at 4 pm with the Lady Elks Junior Varsity!

Go Elks!

Today's Technology Tidbit:  Ted-Ed

Earlier this year, I discussed the Ted Talks video series.  Ted-Ed is basically the "educational extension" of the Ted Talks site.

Lesson Plans and other resources are available.  This website comes recommended to us from our own Mr. Dan Robbins!

Hope you all have a great week!

Weekend Update: Feb. 8th-10th

In case you missed it ... Last Night South Dakota State University's Nate Wolters exploded for 53 points in a Summit League conference game at IPFW.

Nate Wolters - National Celebrity?

SDSU beat writer Terry Vandrovec has a host of links on his blog.

One of the coolest things about this is waking up in the morning, and turning on Sportscenter and seeing the accomplishments of a Jackrabbit on the "Scroll" at the bottom of the screen.  But having his own highlight package, is pretty cool too.

53 points for Jackrabbit?  Sounds interesting.

And another thing to add... seeing your school have a headline on espn.com college basketball page, is also pretty nifty.

I'm sure USD graduates can't wait until they get a player and/or team that can do something like this.  Don't hold your breath, coyote fans... however, if you'd gone Division I when you were supposed to, maybe you'd be at the point where you could have a super star too.  (I kid, I kid)

Weekend Update

Tonight the Lady Elks will be hosting the Arlington Cardinals in Girls Basketball action at Lake Benton... Go Elks!

Tomorrow, the Elkton Boys JV team will host a JV tournament in Elkton.  Good Luck to Coach Leuning and the JV Elks!

Also on Saturday, the Jackrabbit Mens basketball team will face off with Oakland, Michigan, and the Lady Jackrabbits will host Oakland.

Sunday will be a day of rest and recovery in the Harming household... Hope everyone has a great weekend!

For the Friday video, let's listen to some Loverboy... in honor of Nate Wolters game last night.

Tuesday Tidbits: links and discussion?

Last Wednesday at the staff inservice, we spent some time sharing some websites that can be used in the classroom... some are specific to subject area (like math), and some are helpful sites that could be used across the curriculum.

I was able to save all of the links to all the sites on my "Delicious" Social Bookmarking site.  The web address for that is here:  https://delicious.com/mharming .

Social Bookmarking sites like delicious, can be kind of handy!

Delicious itself, is kind of a handy tool, that you can use to keep track of any and all handy links that you want.  Say you are at home, and you find a site you want to use in the classroom... if you start a delicious account you can simply add the link to it...no matter where you are, and you can access all those links anywhere.  Another neat thing about Delicious is that you can "Follow" other people on there... so if you find someone who is an "expert" in your field (Math, Science, elementary, etc...), you can follow their list of helpful links!

Cheryl Harming also discussed edmodo, and the use of edmodo itself in the classroom...it's a pretty handy little tool that you can use to give and receive assignments...give online quizes, give polls, etc, etc... AND, you can invite parents to see what their student is doing in edmodo.  Cheryl did a great job, and hope I was able to chip in with a few drops of knowledge.

We also discussed web site development, and staff worked either in Frontpage or Share Point Designer, in working on their own staff webpage.  Frontpage is the older program, that most people learned on.. but is now obsolete, and we did have problems with a few staff computers using Frontpage.  Share Point Designer is a free download from Microsoft, and seemed to work with all the computers that we tried it on.

Sharepoint Designer looks similar to Frontpage.

As I mentioned, Share Point Designer is a free download... so you can download it to your home computer, and work on your webpage from home.  Note:  For your SD State supplied webpage, you will need to download the 2007 version... NOT the 2010 or 2013 version.

Here is the LINK for 2007 SharePoint Designer Dowload.

Lastly... Wondering if we could get a discussion going here...I'm going to try it, anyway.  My wife and I have just ordered a new computer for our home... the old one was just breaking down...  We ordered an HP with Windows 8 on it.  I have not used Windows 8 yet, but would like to get the reaction(s) from those who have.  I've heard a few negative things about it...but also heard that once you get "used to it" it's no big deal.

Windows 8 sure looks different!

With the proliferation of "Smart Phones" and tablets... a move to an "App based" Operating System was probably a smart move, in the long term... but it is certainly a significant change from Windows 7.

As far as I know, there aren't any school districts in SD, who are moving their student computers to Windows 8 yet.  Most are sticking with Windows 7, at least for the next year.

Anyway... have a thought on Windows 8?  A complaint?  Praises?  Anything at all?  leave a comment here... I'd like to hear it.

Weekend Update: Super Bowl

The Return of the Weekend Update!  (It's been awhile)

Certainly has been a cold couple of days, with no school yesterday, and a late start today.  On the bright side, it is supposed to start warming up throughout the day, and through this Sunday.

Congratulations to the SDSU Jackrabbits for their decisive victory over the USD Coyotes last night in Men's Basketball.  The victory was the Jackrabbits 27th straight Victory at Frost Arena (tying a school record).

Opponents have learned to "Fear the Frost".

Tonight we have a double header basketball games with Lake Preston at Elkton.
Schedule is as follows:

North Gym:
4:00  JH Girls
5:00  JV Girls
South Gym:
4:00 JH Boys
5:00 JV Boys
6:30 Varsity Girls
??    Varsity Boys (following Varsity girls)

Go Elks and Lady Elks!

Weekend:
I will be coaching and my son will be playing in the "C" Team Tournament in White Saturday.  Daughter and wife will be attending "Junior Day" at South Dakota State University.

After the Tournament, I will be attending the SDSU vs UMKC Mens basketball game at Frost Arena.  With a win, the Jackrabbits will break the school record for most consecutive wins at home.  Should be a good time.

Sunday is Super Bowl XLVII featuring the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers.  Personally, I don't care who wins, but I always enjoy watching the game, and soaking in all the "Hype" that surrounds the event.

The Friday Video:  Enjoy... a little R. E. M.